


The art of Dreams

by SanderRohde



Series: Sleeping Powder [1]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alcohol Mentions, Ariana Grande references, But rather an OC I have, Caravan Palace, Charli xcx - Freeform, Disney, Elbow - Freeform, Eventual RED QPR, Fiona Apple - freeform, Flaming Lips, Foo Fighters - Freeform, Foster the People - Freeform, Fusion, Gorillaz References, Lamp - Freeform, Literary References & Allusions, M/M, May be binary Deceit Sanders, May eventually (probably) be canon divergent, Maybe eventually evil! Patton, Morally Neutral Deceit Sanders, Movie References, Non binary Emile and Remy, None of my fics are, Not Beta Read, Orange OC now officially in the story!!!!, Other, Percy Jackson References, Prophecy, Red - Freeform, Religious commentary, Remy is Sleep and Balance, Remy is eventually the Pink Side, Songfic, TV references, The Beatles - Freeform, The The, The most I have wrote on ao3, The orange side is not Paranoia, Traffic, a few of them are non binary, eventually, lemon juice is not related to the concept of fanfiction lemons, maybe Queen, music references, or Thomas, puns, references, that's why they take so long, tragic backstory, vine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-18
Updated: 2020-05-17
Packaged: 2020-07-08 04:37:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 7,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19863607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SanderRohde/pseuds/SanderRohde
Summary: Remy, Emile and Deceit discover they can see the future. Thing is, they haven't met yet. How does a group of aspects of a man decide to tell the man, alright, warn Thomas, of what their dreams may entail? Well, first, they might want to get to know each other more to fill in the holes.





	1. First Chapter is always weird to write

**Author's Note:**

> Wanted to start a fic before I went off to camp for a few weeks. Feel free to use either the Beetlejuice or Reaper aus when I am gone. Am kind of projecting here, as I feel as though most of those ideas I post on here end up posted otherwise some other way. Anyway, enjoy! I worked really hard on this!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to post something before camp starts for two weeks. Hope you like!

_He looks around, and finds himself in a room. The room is toxically pink, with a tv in the middle of it. The door is open, lightly playing Charli XCX. A person is in the middle of it._

**...Dancing in the darkness**

**They can learn luck**

**Keep the silence…**

_They wear black wireless headphones and equally black sunglasses. Their leather jacket is pink, covered in various patterns of the letter z. The person/aspect gestures for him to sit down. He does. He feels himself floating away._

**...Crystals on the skyline**

**Cut the midnight**

**Alterable light…**

_The aspect, for he now sees that that is definitely one of those, momentarily looks alarmed, then catches a pink face mask that they throw him on his way out as he crashes through the ceiling, the aspect looking slightly alarmed at him, holding out their hands for a few seconds. He floats through various flashes of colored bubbles._

**...You’re the one that can make me stay**

**You’re the only one who makes me feel this way**

**You’re the one that’s been stealing stars**

**Your golden arrow went through my heart...**

_He sees himself watching TV in that very room. It is playing a scene of a movie that he can’t see, but he could see himself and the other two laughing at and critiquing it. He can almost hear them, but it is like it is underwater. He wishes he could be his counterpart there. They didn’t act like they knew who he was, or even cared at all. They acted like they loved him, for what that was worth. He could almost forgive that terrible shade of pink, if only for a second._

**...You’re the one that can turn the page**

**You’re the one that came along and unlocked the cage**

**Now I’m dancing in the dark...**

_He sees a portal, looking black and white, against a wall. There is a number on the wall, but he can’t see that number that well. He is in there. He can tell he is in there._

**...Flying through the black night**

**You’re the angel in the new light**

**Running through the thunder**

**I need to cover, so follow low...**

_He puts on the face mask, and sees for the first time why he didn’t dream before. He removes this block. He then feels something missing because he did that. He looks alarmed for a second, and removes the face mask._

**...Yeah I’m dancing in the darkness**

  
**Three years before I was feeling so heartless**

**But your bright shined through**

**Now I’m drinking love potion**

**When I lie next to you...**

_He sees himself in a room with a couch in it, and another person looks back at him with a happy smile, while leaning against the wall. He recognizes the back of this man. His smile is truly a smile. The wall behind the man is covered with pictures of his interests. He couldn’t see what those were very well._

**...It’s a criminal feeling**

**Happiness cries and the tears are dreaming**

**My body is screaming**

**I’m staying right here**

**No, I’ll never be leaving…**

_He sees a sword and a club, a cloud of an unidentified substance, a DVD, a starmap, several sheets of graph paper, a small hat, a carton of lemon juice, and a spot that seems empty. He places the mask on it and it glows before he breathes in to…_

His own room, a beautiful and tasteful shade. There is a splat of paint on his wall. It contrasted with the tasteful yellowish off white of his walls and the silver of his terrariums. It doesn’t stand out that much, but he knows where it came from. A note flutters down from his ceiling. He doesn’t know who this is from.

“Hello! Meet me at Bean There Done That...”

He scowls at the pun, but then again Thomas loved puns. It wasn’t his fault that he _loved_ them personally.

“... At 3:00, maybe…”

He kept reading.

“...I think we might have something to help each other out, Dee…”

He didn’t know them. It was probably a reputation thing that they even knew his name. The paper smelled like licorice and was stained with various off white stains, some of them green, some of them coffee colored, some of them pink, some of them just clear, but he could tell they had been there due to the wrinkles in the paper, as well as the gold sparkles adorning them, which were subtle but were there for a keen eye to spot, if you looked closely.

“...will talk more there…”

The writer signed with a flourish.

“...Sincerely, Remy, your friendly neighborhood Sleep aspect.”

Hmm. Maybe this could work. He would have to find out. He checked the time. He had slept in that long?

The thought scared him for a second, before he remembered to feed his snakes. He did so, and they were grateful for that. Also that the time was 2:40, and he had no idea where Bean There, Done That was. Then he remembered Thomas also had a bad habit of sleeping in even later then 2:00 as well, so this Sleep aspect had probably slept in, as per his fellow Sides, Aspects, Figments, and other Mindscape figures.

He would stumble upon it eventually, he thought, as long as he thought about it and walked in the direction he thought it was in.

Another figure was walking that direction. He had a goofy grin on his face. He could almost recognize them, in some crazy point of deja vu. They spoke, with that dumb, but rather genuine smile.

“Emile Picani. Do you how do?”

He chose to ignore the referencial tone to that, and said,

“Are you also _not_ going where I am going?”

They replied, this time with a smarter version of their smile.

“That depends, Kaa! You going to click your heels three times and say ‘go to Bean There Done That,’ by any chance?”

He shook his head.

“ _No_.”

“Well, hot dog hot dog hot diggedy dog! You are going, aren’t you?”  
“Can’t you _not_ show me?”

The happy smart figment cheerily replied,

“Certainly, Dip dot!”

“I _am_ Dip dot. If you _don’t_ call me that again…”

Emile smirked a little.

“Now, Dee! If you can’t say somethin’ nice, then don’t say nothin’ at all!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone know Charli XCX music? I do! I haven't gone to any of her concerts, though. 
> 
> Music- Charli XCX- You're the One
> 
> See you in two weeks!Notes:  
> Just for fun, you can guess who I think the orange side is! Hint: his light side is Balance, the role of the pink side. Hope you enjoy this!! See you two weeks from now! Unless I have school :(.


	2. Be Alright/Who is that?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We see Emile's side of things and get introduced to a mysterious figure...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am back from camp, so this might be a bit rushed, but I really enjoy not waiting too long for things and I have been procrastinating in lieu of school starting really soon. So here it is!

**They wake up in a room, blasting Ariana Grande. The scene in front of them is of two people. One of them was wearing a cape and exaggerated eyeliner and yellow blush, the other wearing, it looked to be their outfit, but with minor alterations.**

**The new outfit had a fancy belt striped tanish brown, pink and yellow. They are dancing, one’s arms up on the other’s, bobbing along to the music. A person in the back, clothed in pink, bobs along while shaking what looked to be a cocktail shaker.**

**They have a smile on their face until they notice the dream walker and then blow what looks like a kiss over to them. It materializes as a decorative scarf with a patch of a birth sign on it. They can kind of recognize this symbol.**

  
  
  


_ Ah _

_ Hey ah... _

_ Oh whoa _

_ Hey yeah _

_ (Somehow) _

_ Midnight shadows _

_ When finding love is a battle _

_ But daylight is so close _

_ So don't you worry 'bout a thing _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Hey! _

**They then walk in, the kiss draped around their neck, walking into a dark room covered with weird orange darkness. The darkness seems to want to touch him, but then doesn’t after it sees the scarf kiss.**

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Hey yeah _

_ Oh yeah _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Baby don't you know _

_ All of them tears gon' come and go _

_ Baby you just gotta make up your mind _

_ That every little thing is gonna be alright _

**Another orange dark room, this time with a sofa in it and a chair covered in wood walls. It looks like their office, but it seems more barren. The aspects rush in, one with the new costume they had seen prior, one with a trenchcoat and a half mask.**

_ Baby don't you know _

_ All of them tears gon' come and go _

_ Baby you just gotta make up your mind _

_ We decided _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Hey yeah _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Yeah _

_ Hey! _

_ We're gonna be alright _

**Another room, another scenario. A chill goes down their back and a door behind them seems like it slammed behind their back. In front of them falls a magnifying glass covered in an orange hypnotism swirl. They pick it up curiously. It brings a certain deja vu to the room, the blank room with a chill and a magnifying glass they somehow recognized. A chain an old lady would wear on their glasses clattered to the ground. It fit into the hole on the magnifying glass perfectly, making it look more like a monocle. Then they felt it tugging on their head what they might have been remembering. It didn’t seem good.**

_ We're in slow motion _

_ Can't seem to get where we're going _

_ But the high times are golden _

_ Cause they all lead to better days _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Hey! _

_ We're gonna be alright _

  
  


**They put on the monocle magnifying glass thing and saw something that would change life forever. They slowly and carefully pulled the thing off. It made some sort of squelch noise as they did it, and they carefully interlaced it in their scarf. They found that they were unable to say anything without it sounding like Dory’s whale sounds so they didn’t want to talk too much about anything where they were.**

_ Yeah _

_ Oh yeah _

_ Oh yeah _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Baby don't you know _

_ All of them tears gon' come and go _

_ Baby you just gotta make up your mind _

_ That every little thing is gonna be alright _

**The scarf trailing behind them, magnifying glass poking out of their shirt, they started running to the next room. They kept running as fast as if they were being chased or had to pee. Looking behind them, they saw an orange projection of the object they possessed. They carefully looked back in front of them and started retreating. Then they opened a door in front of them. It had illegible writing on it, but it seemed to have another layer. Ripping the paper off the door, they smelled it. It smelled of lemon juice. Almost too convenient, a light shined on it revealing a message. ‘Beware. He is watching.’**

_ Baby don't you know _

_ All of them tears gon' come and go _

_ Baby you just gotta make up your mind _

_ We decided _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ Hey! _

_ We're gonna be alright _

**Opening the door to this room revealed a room full of various objects. One of these was an open plastic lemon juice container. Another was a Phantom mask, a sleep mask, a pair of tragedy and comedy masks, a teddy bear with a happy face sticker on it, a tie with a meh sticker on it, and a pin with a question mark on a felt storm cloud. The two empty spots were filled with the magnifying glass and the cravat, carefully set down.**

_ Ooooh baby _

_ Ooooh yeah _

_ Oh yeah _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ We're gonna be alright _

_ (Somehow) _

Carefully waking up to their alarm, their ceiling sported a beige note covered in a pink sticker on it that said Thank You Next . 

Reading it, showed a simple note, written in neon orange gel pen.

{Meet me at Bean There Done That. All will be explained. - XIHR}

A Skip in Time Saves Nine

Walking into Bean There Done That took both of their willpower to even think it was a coffee shop. The flashing letters on the wall and the loud pounding sound of Caravan Palace showing one person through an orange spotlight made it look more like a club. The silhouette had a pair of bunny ears and a half of a lens on half of it. It being orange set off alarms, and they wanted to leave and drag Ethan with them. They were too scared to move. A weird voice came from this shadow. 

  
“Well, well, well. Hello, everyone. Didn’t expect to see me here? Expected Remy,  _ right. _ Well too bad. You got me instead.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have anymore guesses on who my OC is? Will reveal it next chapter, so you will figure it out soon.
> 
> Songs/Bands : Be Alright- Ariana Grande  
> Caravan Palace


	3. Sleep is for the Strong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More of the mystery unravels. I try to post this chapter without splitting it into two.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Another chapter on my 16 page epic! Yay... Hope you enjoy! I am whittling down my last weeks of Summer for this.

**They were asleep, he knew. How long, though, they had no clue.**

_ Well let's take off from the start _

_ I know you tried all this before _

_ And did your best to fight the war _

_ And break it off _

_ But if I follow my name _

_ I will calm you in the storm _

_ And breathe you in when you are worn _

_ Be still my love _

_ Would it take a shooting star? _

_ To show you life can bloom when somethings breaks _

_ When the pieces fall _

_ I'll catch them all _

**They had lived in this room for it seemed like ages, its pink walls only magnifying their claustrophobia. They tried to send messages, but they always ended up warped and weird, as if they couldn’t control the dream world he had ended up in. They felt like they had tested this fact before and failed, but didn’t know for sure. One should be optimistic, right, though?**

_ Never mind what you're looking for _

_ You'll always find what you're looking for _

_ Sometimes it's blinding in the race _

_ I'll be here smiling when I see your face _

_ Never mind what you're looking for _

_ You're gonna find what you're looking for _

_ Sometimes it's blinding in the race _

_ I'll be here smiling when I see your face _

**The pink room seemed to close in every second they were there, and every second they stared at the wall made them feel more dizzy.**

**The desk and themselves seemed the only thing keeping them company barring anything coming close to their door. Normally control here was natural, but it seemed that they had gotten trapped there for at least a month. They then wondered what might have happened without their influence. Nothing good.**

_ Yeah it's hard to know the truth _

_ In this post-modernist view _

_ Where absolutes are seen as relics _

_ And laughed out of the room _

_ And I'm scared to say your name _

_ I've cried wolf so many times _

_ Cause I'm afraid of what you'd want from me _

Thomas had bags under his eyes from staying up longer then he had even in those earlier years. Logan had said something about ‘circadian rhythm’ and whatever, but Thomas just stayed upon his phone munching on his nails, biting them down to the quick… He certainly couldn’t tell Logan that he just wasn’t possible of sleeping, could he? Then Logan would say he needed more sleep or something about getting his life back on track. What life?

_ Will you find me through the grey? _

_ Cause my mind's a minefield of the wretched _

_ It's honestly deceptive _

_ Never mind what you're looking for _

_ You'll always find what you're looking for _

_ Sometimes it's blinding in the race _

_ I'll be here smiling when I see your face _

“ _ Yeah,” laughed a voice, “Exactly! Do that! Oh, this is just too good!”  _

_ Emile and Deceit looked on in horror. Who was this madman to do anything for Thomas? And where the heck was Remy?  _

_ The music suddenly shifted to a rather upbeat song Deceit recognized as ‘Good Day Sunshine.’ _

_ “And you don’t know your allies in this battle! How about that bad news, Lizard man?” _

_ Deceit was about to comment he wasn’t a lizard man, but just silently pointed to Emile.  _

_ “Oh, this is gold. Your ally, Lizard man, a therapist with a pension for cartoons? How will he help you?  _

_ The music shifted again to ‘Shanghai Noodle Factory.’  _

_ It was starting to be overly annoying that the music was this awkwardly out of the mood.  _

_ “Why _ _ not call  _ _ me Lizard man? I  _ _ am not  _ _ a snake man!” _

_ The weird shadow grinned.  _

_ “Why should I tell you?” _

_ The music shifted again to ‘Everybody Wants to Rule the World.” _

_ Emile finally spoke again.They were trying to teleport out of there, mumbling ‘click your heels three times, the power was always with you all along, there’s no place like home…” _

_ Stopping to catch his breath, Emile slowly turned back towards his companion.  _

_ The orange shadow just smirked. _

_ “Did you really think it would be that easy?”  _

  
  


_ The face of the orange shadow slowly came into view. More of his smirk showed, his face with orange intense makeup and a matching orange hypnotism monocle, hair adorned with a pair of white rabbit ears.  _

_ Emile looks alarmed.  _

_ “Xavier? Why are you here?”  _

_ Xavier, for it was who this aspect was, laughed.  _

_ “ I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have always been here.”  _

_ He picked up a coffee mug and slurped from it. On said coffee mug was the monogrammed initials XIHR. Under these were what they stood for, nearly illegible but if you concentrated hard you could read the lettering, as it was in black on a neon orange cup, looking like a prison jumpsuit, but on a cup, or a piece of sports merch that he didn’t support the team for, or even a Halloween artifact sold at a cheap Halloween store.  _

_ Whatever it was (maybe he just liked the colors) it was really hard to read any small writing in, but Emile also recognized the initials from the note. The fact that an S was not included was alarming but also perfectly understandable. The second two initials were ones they hadn’t seen on anything to do with Xavier when they had looked in the mind palace archives when they were bored several years earlier. They must have been new. Not that they were criticizing such a thing. What could they stand for? They thought for a second of the bunny ear wearing figment. Bunny… Rabbit. What rhymes with Rabbit? Oh. Oh… Oh!!!! So does that mean… wow that would be a rude awakening.  _

  
  


_ Never mind what you're looking for _

_ You're gonna find what you're looking for _

_ Sometimes it's blinding in the race _

_ I'll be here smiling when I see your face _

_ Never mind what you're looking for _

_ You'll always find what you’re looking for _

_ Never mind what you're looking for _

_ You'll always find what you’re looking for _

Thomas carefully pulled the lemon juice from the cabinet. After taking a paintbrush in his hand, he carefully painted his nails with the thin layer. There. That should do it. Maybe he should invite some friends. Talyn and Joan might be free! Or maybe Jamahl… God knows he needed to take his mind off things. His mind flittered to his hands and he bit the toxically sour nails. Yeah. Maybe he should try for gloves. Yeah, that would be a great idea. He called his friends, still utterly tired. Maybe Virgil or Remus were keeping him up again? He had the idea to wear an orange sweatshirt that day. It had cursive quotes on it. It had originally been white, but dyeing it was great since it had had a stain. ‘Maybe it was destiny it was this way,’ he thought. ‘I have no other orange sweatshirts.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Know what all of the initials XIHR stand for yet? You should! I left clues! 
> 
> Songs
> 
> Nevermind- Foster the People  
> Good Day Sunshine- The Beatles  
> Shanghai Noodle Factory- Traffic  
> Everybody Wants to Rule the World- Tears for Fears
> 
> and of course all the references


	4. Hail to the Trash Boi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus is introduced. Thomas is tired and habitual. And. Remus is so stream of consciousness you might have thought of him as sleep deprived. Which I am, even with all the matcha I had been drinking...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long time, no see... Hey, so school has started. I just decided to type out other stories. It was either this (17 pgs) or Snake Oil. And I get no comments on my stuff. So I supposed why not post another chapter of this and see whether anyone comments.

Thomas bit his nails again. He had been up really late. That wasn’t weird at all. He did it a lot. But recently he had felt a kind of pull to stay up later and later and procrastinate and… Well, he did it all the time. Just thinking about it made him more indecisive about whether he should do this more often, keep doing this, or try to withdraw from it. He looked down at his chewed nails. Maybe he should ask Deceit for a pair of gloves. Yeah, he’d have to remember that. 

_ What's got into me _

_ Can't believe myself _

_ Must be someone else _

_ Must be _

**They quickly discovered that, although the letters they wrote didn’t have a proper language they could read, they could teach themselves to read the language of blobs and lines. The things they read on the dream labels in the pink room read a bit like morse code. They knew a bit of morse code because Thomas did, so they tried to write out a basic translation of what they remembered. Writing a letter, they used the morse code they could remember to write it. They quickly shifted the letter, covered in dots and dashes, under the small crack in the door, blurry as the pink door was.**

_ Any day now how's about getting out of this place _

_ Anyways _

_ Got a lot of spare time _

_ Some of my youth and all of my senses on overdrive _

**_Remus felt a pull-ha, pull- from where they were in the dark side of the imagination, where Fluoride had disappeared quite a while ago now he thought about it. It must have been Thomas, but what would Thomas want with him? Did he want him to- did he want him to pull out his eyeballs while playing his favorite The The playlist? Maybe he could see ol’ Fluoride again! Hey Thomas probably didn’t know who Fluoride was! Probably just as well. That guy, well, that guy… he’d have thought Fluoride would do something other then criticise him like everyone else. He had though Fluoride would want to do his namesake. Have fun with himself and his life. But Fluoride wanted to look at his phone all day. Well, Thomas was waiting!_ **

_ Don't play Coltrane you will sleep at the wheel  _

_ Eyes on horizon _

_ Don't sleep at the wheel _

Thomas waited for whoever he summoned. He was too tired to know any of who he might have taken out of whatever they were doing at this time of night, but he hoped they would help him in his moral dilemmas. 

“Heya Tommy boy, remember when you thought about have you ever thought of running yourself over for a Vine? That was me, y’know.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello. So, Orange is Xavier is Fluoride because of orange juice and toothpaste, and Xavier is Habit/Insomnia/Obsession which I can't decide one word for that, but I am basically venting with that anyway. Yes, Remus is here! 
> 
> References  
> Get hit by a car for a Vine- various videos and that one Vine, you know the one.  
> The The- a highly politics and religion based commentary band from the early 90's  
> Elbow- Any Day Now


	5. The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus has an answer to some pressing questions.

_Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya_

“Remus!” He would normally have been scared to see the side that was most intrusive that he knew of, but he was getting desperate. “You called?”

_  
If you could blow up the world with the flick of a switch Would you do it? Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya If you could make everybody poor just so you could be rich Would you do it?_

Remus’ mouth curved into a smile. Thomas looked nervous, but responded anyway. “Yeah, I did didn’t I?”

_Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya If you could watch everybody work while you just lay on your back Would you do it? Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya If you could take all the love without giving any back Would you do it? Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya_

Thomas’ hand was bleeding from where he had started to bite his nails down to the quick.

He bit the skin around the nails as well. He had done this for all of his fingers.

“Do you bite your thumb at me?.. oh, I guess you do? This is serious? Why haven’t you called the other sides? Where is Deceit, Logan or Virgil, for example?”

But deep down he knew why he had been called. It should really have been Fluoride, though.

Thomas looked down at his hands again.

“ I have no idea where Deceit is, one, and two, last time I checked Logan and Virgil were doing-“

“Each other?” With which Remus did the suggestive hand gesture, but made it look more like playing a game of pickup sticks with oneself.

“No!” Thomas looked disgusted. Cool, then! There was no better way to win then to annoy his host!

“-Their own thing. Remus, do you know where any of my sides are? I am curious!”

Remus just grinned again and took out a beeping device. The beeping had been masked by Thomas and Remus projecting into an empty room.

_And so we cannot know ourselves or what we'd really do With all your power With all your power With all your power What would you do? With all your power With all your power With all your power What would you do?_

Thomas rather hoped it wasn’t a bomb. “ Is that… a tracker?” 

Thomas was regretting summoning Remus already.

He was simultaneously creeped out and proud (Patton would like the pun) but mostly creeped out.

_If you could make your own money and then give it to everybody Would you do it? No no no no no no no no no If you knew all the answers and could give it to the masses Would you do it?_

“ On this device, we can tell exactly where everyone is in that mind of yours, Thomas.”

_No, no, no, no, no, no, are you crazy? It's a very dangerous thing to do exactly what you want Because you cannot know yourself or what you'd really do With all your power With all your power With all your power What would you do?_

Remus looked inquisitively at the device. He squinted a bit before he exclaimed a noise. “Oh!” He almost choked on the word as if he was aiming arrows, with the forward, almost vocally buoyant noise that was created.

_Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ah (ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya) Ah (ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya) Ah (Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya) Ah (ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya Ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya ya)_

“ Why are a bunch of them at Fluoride’s place. Do you know who Fluoride is, Thomas? ‘Cause you’re about to find out!”

He checked again. His handmade GPS said something curious. He held in a breath. “Why… were they … at Fluoride’s… for two… freakin’ … months?”

And a pause for dramatic effect. “Wait what?”   
A buzz came from someone’s pocket.

Appearing out of frame, Remus took the phone from his pocket, with the raucous ringtone mashup thing playing for as long as physically possible.

It was a mashup of Gimme Gimme Gimme, Choke, and some The The song Thomas couldn’t quite put his finger on.

“Sorry. That is my text tone, and cue to leave,” came the offscreen voice that was Remus. “ I’ll leave you with the tracker! Dunno what it does when a human carries it, but you could try I guess…”

With that he disappeared. Thomas saw the crazy device. He decided he would ask Remus for blueprints later.

_With all your power With all your power With all your power What would you do? With all your power With all your power With all your power What would you do? With all your power With all your power With all your power What would you do?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Boy this chapter’s weird!


	6. XIHR

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Origins of XIHR.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had the idea to do this for this fic a while ago, just thought it would be interesting to write/see. Hope you find as much enjoyment in this as I did writing it!

X. Ibsen Holden Raeburn. It took him a long time to think of it. That was his name, and his name only. 

_You'll never see the courage I know It's color's richness won't appear within your view I'll never glow the way that you glow Your presence dominates the judgements made on you_

Before, his void closed in on himself, breaking the careful walls, and showing him exactly who he would be in his manifestor.

_But as the scenery grows I see in different lights The shades and shadows undulate in my perception My feelings swell and stretch; I see from greater heights I understand what I am still too proud to mention... to you_

Before, he tried to deny that something was missing, that his life was dull, that he needed another name.

_You'll say you understand, but you don't understand You'll say you'll never give up seeing eye to eye But never is a promise, and you can't afford to lie_

One night, he went out and stole one from someone within the giant building in front of him. It suited him better than it ever had suited the sleeping Side.

_You'll never touch these things that I hold The skin of my emotions lies beneath my own You'll never feel the heat of this soul My fever burns me deeper than I've ever shown... to you_

He bestowed upon the Side a new name, beautiful, mystic, and contextual for who that Side happened to be. He called him Logan.

_You'll say don't fear your dreams, it's easier than it seems You'll say you'd never let me fall from hopes so high But never is a promise and you can't afford to lie_

Sneaking away into the night, he wouldn’t be seen again until his void gained new occupants two minutes after. He called one Virgil and one Dorian.

_You'll never live this life that I live I'll never live the life that wakes me in the night You'll never hear the message I give You'll say it looks as though I might give up this fight ... But as the scenery grows I see in different lights_

Someone knocked at the door of his void a few years after. Virgil and Dorian were tucked in for the night. He was the oldest, so he was tempted to call himself Entropy, along with being Xavier. That’s what everyone who met him thought he should be called, anyway.

_The shades and shadows undulate in my perception My feelings swell and stretch; I see from greater heights I realize what I am now too smart to mention... to you You'll say you understand; you'll never understand_

Remus was the newest occupant. At seven, he stayed up way past his Void- mates,wondering what happened to his other half. He covered it with his obsession with the uncanny. It wasn’t a phase, the group found out, as they found themselves looking forward to the Horror Weekends Remus had established to keep their souls off things.

_I'll say I'll never wake up knowing how or why I don't know what to believe in; you don't know who I am_

Xavier watched as they grew, their paths diverging slightly every second. He even got why Remus conjured a phone to make videos and Dorian a cape to place all his secrets into, but the most painful of those changes was when Virgil left. He had a sneaking suspicion where. And he knew that Remus and Dorian knew as well. It was then that he recalled who exactly who he was, in simpler terms, and started wearing rabbit ears and a bright orange monocle. Some day, not too far from 2016, he knew that he would be heard. That was a certainty.

_You'll say I'll need appeasing when I start to cry But never is a promise and I'll never need a lie_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Songs  
> Never is a Promise- Fiona Apple 
> 
> Was debating on whether to use a Fruit Bats song for this chapter, but decided against that as I want to use it in a different piece, eventually.


	7. Momentary Bliss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thomas finds himself in a room...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My weekly fanfiction post!!!

_Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Momentary bliss We could do so much better than this Emotionally in fences and momentary bliss We could do so much better than this Oh, Rita, oh, Rita_

  
Thomas looked at the device in his hand. Then back at the space where Remus had stood. The device was cartoonish, but he kind of knew what it was. It was a GPS, programmed in a programming language he didn’t understand. Those were rare, as he spent time, pointless time, looking at programming languages.

_Your potential, you lack credentials And you are special, so fucking special (Rita) Oh, how you need it, oh how you're needed And you keep squeezing the truth from the middle (ayy, ayy, ayy, ayy)_

Thomas looked again. Would it really be so bad to not look for his fellow sides at that exact moment? He was a bit… unmotivated.

_You parted seas, but your arches, they ain't golden (ah) And you was gangin' for some gags and now you're rollin' (woo) Bet you shut your trap and keep it hush (hush) On another note, compliments make me blush_

Remus had not told him truly where so- called ‘Fluoride’ was.

He hadn’t really told Thomas much of anything, he thought, as he looked at the GPS in his hand. Ok.

His feet started walking. Towards where he kind of knew.

Got faster and faster and faster and faster as he went, sounding more and more like Sonic as he did so. When he stopped, he was in a room.

_There's a hole in your pocket, so you cannot find the change Cavern of your mind, you say your pattern You pull your strings and you jump, hold your mouth and you say (ah, ah, ah) "What was scripted, the day before it happened?"_

**The room was big. A bit smudged on the edges, but overall serviceable.**

**To the left of him there was a table with a single sheet of paper on it.**

**There was a series of smudges on it that looked strangely like dots and dashes.**

**Reading ‘help’ from across the room was not that hard for him, but whoever had been in there had escaped recently.**

_We all give applause when people look at boys But on the way out and get your back in See, everything in life ain't silver and gold But minin' for metal gave you platinum_

**He wondered what that room was, but allowed himself to forget about his problems, just for a second, and sit down on the comforter.**

**It was then he noticed a mask, one used commonly for blocking out light in rooms such as that one.**

**It was covered in small silk z’s and monogrammed with ‘Remy’ in cursive letters.**

_It makes me sick to think you ain't happy in your skin It's weird thing to think light bulb don't blink Just flickers to them, then it pops and withers You're a turkey twizzler, you deserve school dinners Makes me sick_

**He needed sleep. His surroundings agreed. So why was he just thinking that it would be terrible to do so?**

_Poster boy (ayy) Poster girl (Rita) Truth begins (the bills) Must be paid (yeah, yeah, alright) Poster boy (yeah, alright) Poster girl (ah, that's time)_

**The door opened with a click from the outside. He wondered who it could be, but hoped for Xavier so he could get some explanations.**

_The truth, the bills, they must be paid (uh-huh) And what is left, is salt and cake, typical All you need to change your face You're gettin' sold, it's such a waste_

**The door slowly swung open to reveal a side, clad in primarily powder blue, but with a striking pair of John Lennon glasses. They seemed to be glitching every single minute.**

_You know, we could do so much better than this Swimmin' in pools of momentary bliss Where you gotta find a family 'cause everybody taken They worry you keep on adding I think you gotta crawl_

**Suddenly Thomas didn’t really know what he was worried about.**

**His face collapsed into a beautiful white commercial smile, and he lay down on the bed behind him.**

**The mysterious figure walked silently out of the room.**

_It makes me sick to think you ain't happy in your skin It's weird thing to think light bulb don't blink Just flickers to them, then it pops and withers You're a turkey twizzler, you deserve school dinners_

**An hour later, an indigo clad side walked in to check in on Thomas.**

**His eyes also had glasses, but they were black and white vintage pairs.**

**They wore a suit with a cotton suit jacket that looked out of place with the overall muted look, as it was a quilt, dragging behind.**

_It makes me sick to think you ain't happy in your skin It's weird thing to think light bulb don't blink Just flickers to them, then it pops and withers You're a turkey twizzler, you deserve school dinners Makes me sick_

**The next side who came in was reasonably concerned.**

**Their earth tones and mild silks were coupled with a white leather jacket, on which was a design of an E inside of an R, modeled after several famous logos, and with a drip pattern covered with z’s on it.**

**Before this side was preparing to take the addled Thomas out of that room, they mumbled a quick ‘hmm,’ and proceeded to pick up the mask Thomas was sporting.**

**Blinking rapidly, the imposing figure breathed in and out, and reached over to Thomas, but not before taking said mask and pocketing it for further investigation.**

**Thomas was carried, silently, floating, out the door.**

_We could do so much better than this Emotionally in fences and momentary bliss We could do so much better than this Oh, Rita, oh, Rita_

There was a new door in front of the floating Thomas and contemplative side. It had a wreath on it, which was weird, as it was no longer the holiday season.

The side knocked, and the peephole in the door was looked through by a side in knit pajamas and a baseball cap, it looked like.

Let in, Thomas, with his creepy smile, was finally dropped into the pullout couch.

_We could do so much better than this Perfect little pictures of moments that we missed We could do so much better than this Oh, Rita, oh, Rita_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who is this mysterious side? Has it really been more than a few months by this point? What happened to Xavier? All will be revealed. 
> 
> Songs- Momentary Bliss, Gorillaz
> 
> References- Patton and Deccy, The Magicians


	8. Intro to Fusion City- Working Title (sequel?)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Xavier feels that something’s wrong and that he’s to blame. Well, he is, but that’s not the point, OK? So he goes to visit Ethan, in The City. Warning for fusion and a bit of angst.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now... a lil somethin’ somethin’ 
> 
> I should really be asleep- it’s 2:08 am where I live, jeez- but I think of you guys and I am like ‘I haven’t given them an update since February! They deserve some kind of closure- I deserve some kind of closure.’ Well, here it is! It also, hopefully leads into the sequel! So look forward to that!

Hello  
I've waited here for you  
Everlong  
Tonight I throw myself in two  
Out of the red  
Out of her head she sang

Xavier, for about a year now, had felt angry, weird about something. Something had happened. He knew the basics, such as somehow all of the sides disappeared, and reappeared fused. 

Come down and waste away with me  
Down with me  
Slow, how you wanted it to be  
I'm over my head  
Out of her head she sang

Something actually felt right about who was fused with who, almost as if it was always that way, and it had never been anything else.

He pushed his monocle further up his nose. He needed… he needed… he needed Ethan’s help in all this. The new Ethan (there was an old one, he thinks) owned practically every building in the Mind, except The Mindpalace/The Mind Colosseum, and The Imagination Kingdom. They actually owned a particular area called The City.

It was less… Renaissance Faire then The Imagination Kingdom. And thus Xavier, Nox, Pasha, Ethan, and Simon went there a bit more often. Then again, Pasha and Simon owned the other bits of land, so they had their own areas to protect. Nox, on the other hand, maintained a nice library there. 

And I wonder  
When I sing along with you  
If everything could ever feel this real forever  
If anything could ever be this good again

Xavier quite liked the new setup- or at least that’s what he’d tell you if he knew you were watching. He thought, in all honesty, it was too nice.

Nothing good could come from it, and, although he knew he had contributed quite a lot to this sense of unease, the other sides didn’t fault him for it. Even Nox. Even Simon. Even Ethan. Even Pasha. Actually Pasha probably. And possibly a bit too much empathy from Simon and Ethan. Not Nox, which was weird, seeing as before they actually cared. 

Thomas had mellowed to an unnatural sort of meditative state, which he only left a few times each week to let people know he was ok. In his hand was a Christmas Striped remote control gps gadget he would poke at repeatedly every few minutes. It was repeated enough that it had to mean something, but Xavier had no idea what that something would be.

In his other hand was granola. On the table in front of him was a yoga manual. Xavier was honestly worried. Thomas hadn’t truly left the house since a few months ago. He had close friends (mostly Joan) or Delivery-Subscription box type things do it for him. 

Xavier checked in with Thomas in order to make sure he still existed a few times a week, and,each time, Thomas would blink at him, and smile to the spot where he was appearing each time he did. It was unnerving. 

The only thing I'll ever ask of you  
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when  
She sang

He had gotten too into thoughts, into memories again. He needed to get to The City. He had been owed an appointment. 

There was a black, pink, and soft beige striped door connecting the general subconscious to The City. He turned the knob carefully, and walked in. 

The wall of apartments, cute fusion restaurants, Cafes, libraries, was centered around a huge building with a sign on it reading ‘The Doctor is In, under Therapists Office- Payment is accepted in coffee.’ Classic Ethan. 

Breathe out  
So I can breathe you in  
Hold you in  
And now  
I know you've always been  
Out of your head  
Out of my head I sang

Xavier turned the doorknob for this one as well, and slowly but surely, the door creaked open to reveal a hallway. The first door, the one he was looking for, as Ethan was in it, had a plaque on it that read ‘Ethan Sanders: Emotions, Subconscious, Esquire. I’m a therapist, OK?’

He noticed Ethan was in there with a patient- one of the Figments, looked to be Thomas’ Critic character- Dice, as he was known to most. It looked like he would be interrupting a session, so he decided to wait. 

A little less than 10 minutes later, Dice walked out of the door, carrying a piece of notebook paper inscribed with exercises and other various pieces of good advice. He waved goodbye to the Figment, but Dice was already out of the building and didn’t see him. 

And I wonder  
When I sing along with you  
If everything could ever feel this real forever

Slowly opening the door, he sat down on the wooden chair. He snapped his fingers, and the chair became an orange lounge chair, reminiscent of his own in the Mind Coliseum, which was actually mostly abandoned at this point save for him being there (most liked The City better). It was nice and nostalgic. Plus it was comfier. 

He waited for Ethan to finish their latest coffee, and to raise an eyebrow, before he asked his question. 

“How are you today? Is everything going well?”

If anything could ever be this good again  
The only thing I'll ever ask of you  
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when  
She sang

The Augment (their terminology, not Xavier’s) replies,carefully, making sure to be careful with their answer. They finally put a smile on their face. It looks strained and false, but it is a smile. 

“More than ever it’s been stressful to the max. You have no idea. I’ve started breathing more. Nox says that helps relieve stress, helps pretend you aren’t there for a second, that it’s someone else, that you aren’t needed. But I am needed. Sometimes I feel like I am crushed by work. It’s not fun, but with coffee I can deal.”

Xavier looks towards Ethan. 

“I know. It’s been tough for everybody, especially you. And don’t go listening to Nox. The last time you listened to Nox, your essence started chipping. Then you started glitching. Then you started melting away slowly, like an ice cube in an iced green tea latte. Nox means well, but he’ll turn your brain to mush.”

Ethan turned their eyes to look a bit closer at Xavier. 

“Who are you to talk about what Nox can and can’t do? Also, I don’t think you have any better ideas, Xavy. If you do, I’d be happy to hear them. Have any coffee?”

And I wonder  
If everything could ever feel this real forever  
If anything could ever be this good again  
The only thing I'll ever ask of you  
You've got to promise not to stop when I say when

Glossary

Figment- Creation of Thomas’ generally not related to general functionality of Thomas. Remy and Emile in the first half get wrongfully called a figment. 

Side- A side of Thomas. Related to general functionality of Thomas. The main 7 in the first half are Sides. 

Augment- A more subconscious type of side to Thomas, ie, deeper kinds of things. There are more of these, but right now Ethan is the only one, and he’s a fusion. So technically Remile is an augment. Emile is Compass (although Patceit {Simon} is also Compass, Emile is a bit more like glue. Also has a pinch of Nox {Analogical} but also more literal) and Remy is Sleep (which is not a feeling, although you can feel sleepy.) 

Fusion- Multiple sides, figments or augments, in this case semi-permanently fused together into one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weather  
> Everlong- Foo Fighters
> 
> Please ignore the Dead Girl Walking vibes to it- my parents have it on their playlists, and I thought it fit the chapter well in the context I wrote it in. So... it’s a good song. Deal with it. Also, the lyrics still work with the vibe of the chapter.

**Author's Note:**

> Just for fun, you can guess who I think the orange side is! Hint: his light side is Balance, the role of the pink side. Hope you enjoy this!! See you two weeks from now! Unless I have school :(. Song used: You're the One by Charli XCX.


End file.
